Math Problems

An interestingly funny piece I found on the web or from another blog a few months ago, and I was reminded of it over the weekend. Not that I'm hinting anything about women (or about my wife), but last Saturday I met up with a friend who's still single and perhaps this equation applies to him.. hehe.. just kidding mate (you know who you are).

On a more serious note, I've decided that I will not be able to submit the LBS application before Round 2 deadline of 6th January as I'll be away overseas from the 24th till 2nd and I don't think I can get the essays ready by then. However, since it's a 4 round thing, I'll apply by round 3 (in Feb) and hopefully the stronger application I put in (with extra month work), will still get through the so called lottery round (though most schools only have 3 rounds so in effect round 3 is the last round - not so with LBS). More positively, I'll get the Columbia applications done sometime in January. I'm targeting somewhere around the 15th so that I can get a result before mid April.

One other thing I did think about was "what would happen if I don't get into any of the programs?". I'm thinking I will probably reapply next year again, and after adding INSEAD to my list, I'm beginning to consider the January intake for INSEAD and also the 15 month accelerated program for Columbia/LBS. If it does happen (i.e. i start early 2007), then i will still finish it around the same time as with a full 2 year MBA program starting in September 2006. Perhaps an even better option for me as it will give me more time to get a proper replacement in to take over my job at work. I'd appreciate any feedback from all of you readers who have done research on these options. I still hope to see the light at the end of the tunnel!!

(for those wondering, I won't talk about Arsenal in the near future as I don't want to be depressed during the holiday season!)

Get Real

Things are definitely heating up now on the football front. Firstly, as my title suggests, Arsenal are drawn with the Galacticos for the next round of the Champions League. The thought of Henry and the gang up against Zidane, Ronaldo, Raul, Beckham & Robinho is enough to make me salivate in anticipation. The only good thing to come from this is that we really get to know how good we actually are by playing one of the best clubs (albeit in a bit of turmoil) in the world. I'm actually quite confident as we usually do well against teams that play open attacking football. The problems arise when we play teams that have a "close down, intimidate, tackle hard, and don't let Arsenal play first" mentality (especially boring old Chelsea!). Often the result is that we get frustrated and unless we get an early goal, will end up self destructing.

Now, the worst thing is that the two legged cup tie will only be played in February and March. In the mean time, the Premier league continues with the Gunners returning to Highbury after two disastrous away games against nonother than Sourinho's blue brigade. Now this is a must win for us (even though it won't matter much for the league as we are miles behind now), but it is essential for morale that we don't lose and at least put up a good showing. A sound thrashing (though very unlikely) would be a perfect ending to an otherwise lackluster (calendar) year for the Gunners.

As you all can tell by this post, not much is happening in the MBA front so that's why I'm rambling on about football. However, I would like to end on an optimistic note in that I have a feeling that next year will be a good year for me. To make it interesting, my goals for next year are as follows:

i) Get into an MBA program at a school which I'll be happy at.
ii) Get the company continuing to grow and consolidate on the solid year we had in 2005.
iii) Arsenal to finish the season with a bang by winning the UEFA Champions league (though out of my control - I still believe deep down that if I pray hard enough this will happen:))
iv) Become a dad (or at least be in the process of becoming a dad)
v) lose at least 5kg.

Now that i've laid bare my thoughts, I hope that by this time next year, it doesn't come back and bite me in the ass. I'll be really happy with any 3 out of the 5. anything more will be a bonus. Actually, one of them itself will make me so happy that even if the others don't happen, I wont have a care in the world. I'll let you all guess which one it is.

Finally, on a separate note, met up with a friend who's recovering from Leukemia tonight. She is really doing well, and seeing the courage that she had going through the difficult experiences was really inspiring. I know that I can't take my health for granted, and I'm now determined to lead a healthier more balanced life, meaning exercising more often and eating better. Here's to leaner, healthier, happier and more prosperous student/gooner/dad in 2006.

Merry Christmas to All!

Away day woe!

Gunners have lost again. Away from home, the team looks very vulnerable, and again I sensed the worst when Gilberto got sent off. Sure enough, we lost to Newcastle and not even half way through the season, we've lost same number of games as last year. It's really shaping up to be a bad year for the Gunners. And again it's a case of December blues, which always turns out to be the worst month for us. With Chelsea game coming up next - I can't believe I'm saying this but I have no confidence for us to get a result against Old Mour's team.

Things are also getting really depressing on a few other fronts. Firstly I got dinged from Wharton without even an interview. The worst thing for me was that I had built up high hopes of getting into Wharton after going to all their admissions events and meeting up with a few of the Admissions committee. After spending much time scouring the S2S boards for ideas and tips, I felt that my application was solid. I guess I just don't fit into the mould, as my work background was very "different" from most applicants. Perhaps there were too many questions. Now I don't want to fall into the same trap to build up hope on the other schools, though deep down I know that to get into INSEAD, LBS or Columbia would still be a dream come true. Instead of being optimistic, I'm taking the conservative route and expecting the worst (i.e. dings from all) and having to postpone this MBA dream of mine. At least if/when I do get accepted, it will be a very good surprise.

As the year draws to a close, I'm hoping 2006 will turn out to be better year for me. Not only on the MBA front, on the footballing front the Gunners will be moving to a new stadium. Also on the personal front, I am really hoping for a nice "surprise" sometime soon. I won't elaborate here but I'll explain more as the time comes.

I would like to send my warmest season's greetings to all (10 or so?) readers of this blog. May the coming holiday season be filled with happiness, and may the coming year bring better luck and good fortune to you all.

Cheers!!

INSEAD application is in

I've been meaning to write earlier but have either been too busy with the INSEAD application or too depressed because the Gunners lost (Again!) over the weekend. I should have expected it going into the game that the Trotters would make us work, and once Henry hit the post the second time, I realized that it wasn't going to be Arsenal's night.. or season.

As hard as it is to say it, I've got to admit that Arsenal's poor away form (in the league) is probably due to the loss of Vieira. I mean, when even Gilberto gets muscled out of the ball (i.e. pic), we have to expect the worst from the rest of the lightweight midfield. I only hope that Fabregas will continue to get tougher(and grow another 6 inches?) to be more like the powerful Vieira in the future. Oh well.. hopefully the new Arsenal is better suited to the European game and can bring home the Champions League trophy.

Enough about football...I have to admit that I was really rushing to submit the INSEAD applications, mainly due to last minute changes in the last two essays. I thought everything was going fine up until the night before the due date when I read the essays and realized that they didn't really answer the questions. To cut a long story short, I finally completed the everything and pressed submit at midnight last night. After uploading the photo (a nice one I must admit :P), and making online payment which was painfully slow probably due to many last minute idiots like me, I was able to go to bed at 2 am. On the plus side - the video tour of the INSEAD campuses was nice and it kept me occupied in between pressing the reload button on the payment page.

Anyways, it's another one down and next will be LBS and Columbia. I notice that there are many INSEAD & LBS student bloggers nowadays so I do hope to be able to join their ranks next year.